Pediatric Kidney Disease
Mount Sinai Health System pediatric kidney specialists understand that your child’s kidney condition requires a special level of support and service, and we involve you in your child’s circle of care. Our multidisciplinary team includes pediatric nephrologists, urologists, transplantation specialists, psychiatrists, registered nurses, social workers, nutritionists, and child life specialists. We work together to deliver the most effective treatment for your child while supporting your family as well. Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital was listed among the country’s top children’s hospitals for Pediatric Nephrology in U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-2024 “Best Children’s Hospitals” rankings.
We are a major referral center for children with high blood pressure, offering state-of-the art diagnostics such as ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, which is a home-based approach. We provide comprehensive and individualized treatment plans that emphasize your child’s diet, physical activity, and stress reduction.
As your child becomes a young adult, we help transition him or her into our adult kidney program. We offer convenient appointments and a streamlined consultation process for patients and their physicians. As pioneers in research and education in pediatric kidney care, our dedicated specialists provide children of all ages with the most advanced care available.
Causes of Kidney Disease
Kidney disease in infants and young children most often results from birth defects or genetic and hereditary causes. Glomerular diseases become more common in older children and teens. Kidney injury, whether resulting from other illness or other causes, is a potential cause of kidney problems at any age.
We offer you and your child advanced diagnostic services and compassionate and experienced care for kidney-related conditions.
Diagnosis
In addition to conducting a physical examination and taking a medical history, we look for unusual swelling and conduct individualized testing that may include:
- Urinalysis
- Proteinuria or Microalbuminuria
- Glomerular filtration rate (GFR)
- Blood pressure
- Growth measurements
- Bloodwork including comprehensive metabolic panels, blood counts, and analysis of concentrations of vitamins, hormones, and acids.
- Imaging studies such as ultrasound, X-rays, MRI, computerized tomography, and nuclear radiology
- Advanced diagnostics are available including kidney biopsy and angiography
Why Choose Mount Sinai
At Mount Sinai, we deliver specialized, evidence-based care to children with kidney disease, high blood pressure, urinary tract infections, and a wide variety of related conditions, both common and complex. We are very involved with conducting research on the latest treatment approaches and are also training the next generation of pediatric kidney specialists. These activities challenge us to provide the highest quality and most advanced diagnosis and treatment.
Treatments
We provide comprehensive treatment plans that include a focus on diet, physical activity, and stress factors.
In addition, our specialists provide treatments for kidney failure, including:
- Dialysis (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis including home based therapies)
- Hemofiltration
- Kidney transplant and multiple organ transplant
Kidney transplantation may be needed for serious kidney disease. If transplantation is the most appropriate approach for your child, we can provide seamless care because we work closely with Mount Sinai Transplant.
Mount Sinai is a Center of Excellence for Transplantation and among the busiest centers in the United States providing transplants to children. We take pride in our outcomes and recommend families view and compare them on publicly available sites such as Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.